Carpet sweeper



May 15, 1956 E. KLUMB 2,745,125

CARPET SWEEPER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 3, 1952 INVENTOR EMIL KLUMB 20 Y i/MM, My

ATTORNEYS E. KLUMB CARPET SWEEPER May 15, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 3, 1952 FIG.7

FIG.4

INVENTOR EMIL KLUMB BYa M,

ATTORNEY,

United States Patent CARPET SWEEPER Emil Klumb, Middle Village, N. Y., assignor to Modern Carpet Sweeper Co., Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application September 3, 1952, Serial No. 307,611

3 Claims. (Cl. -41

This invention relates to carpet sweepers of the type comprising a casing and dust pans operatively associated therewith and including brush means rotatably mounted for coacting with and brushing a carpet and the like.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a carpet sweeper of this type having extreme simplicity of construction with a minimum of complicated expensive parts.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a sweeper having a simple means of maintaining the dust pans closed and which means additionally provides adequate pressure between the wheels and the brush carrying mechanism to revolve the brush and at the same time permits vertical movement of the wheels with respect to the brush for automatic adjusting for high and low nap carpets.

In heretofore known devices of this nature, the dust pans have been supported and revolve on separate individual bearing surfaces, whereas in the present invention the wheel axles are also utilized as pivoting means turnably mounting the dust pans.

In heretofore known devices a separate pair of springs was used for maintaining the dust pans closed and an additional separate pair of springs was necessary for providing adequate pressure of the wheels against the brush lock and for providing the wheel height control, whereas in the present invention a single pair of springs accomplishes both purposes.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a construction wherein it is possible to open both dust pans to a 120 angle at which point they will be maintained in open position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a construction in which the springs, dust pans, Wheels and axles comprise a complete interconnected sub-assembly and this sub-assembly comprising the entire working mechanism is supported on the outside body or shell of the sweeper eliminating the necessity of internal side panels or chassis.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the carpet sweeper of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a partial bottom plan view of the sweeper;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line IIIIII of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line IVIV of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a partial sectional view taken on the line VV of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a partial elevational view of an end of a spring utilized by the present invention, and

Figure 7 is an elevational view of a spring utilized in the present invention.

In the drawings, it will be seen that the sweeper com- "ice prises the usual body or casing 10 having a bale 11 pivot ally mounted and a handle 12 operatively engaged in a screw threaded socket 13 centrally secured to the bale. There is also provided the usual furniture guard 14.

The entire working mechanism of the sweeper is formed as a complete sub-assembly interconnected and entirely independent of any other part of the sweeper, such as the body or sides or chassis. This sub-assembly comprises spaced parallel axles 15 and 16 having wheels rotatably journalled adjacent each end thereof. Only one end of the axles is seen in Figure 2 having the wheels 17 and 18 journalled thereon. The wheels are also slidable on the axles for purposes hereinafter to be brought forth.

Dust pans 19 and 2! have side panels 21 and 22 thereon formed integrally with the bottom portions. The side panels 21 and 22, as seen in Figure 4, have arcuate slots 23 and 24 therein, the dimensions of which are substantially the same as the diameter of the axles 15 and 16. The dust pans 19 and 20 are, by means of slots 23 and 24 in side panels 21 and 22, pivotally suspended on and from axles 15 and 16, respectively. The dust pan construction further includes partial top sections 25 and 26 formed at an acute angle to the bottom of the dust pans and extending substantially into contact with the axles 15 and 16, respectively. The partial top portions 25 and 26 in conjunction with the side walls 21 and 22, and the bottoms of the dust pans provide dust or dirt holding or containing means. The bottom of the dust pans has an elongated edge portion 27 with a curved or generally rounded end as seen in Figure 2. Furthermore the entire elongated edge 27 has the peripheral edges thereof upwardly turned as at 28 to form a cup-shaped edge for coaction with the furniture guard 14 to facilitate a dust tight construction and to exclude sharp protruding edges. Also as seen from Figure 4, the upper ends of the side panels 21 and 22, preferably directly above the innermost end of the slots 23 and 24, are provided with holes 29 and 30.

Springs 31 having generally curved shapes as shown in Figure 7 and smoothly inwardly bent ends 32 with offset hooked terminal ends 33 interconnect the two dust pans at each of the ends thereof by insertion of the hooked terminal ends 33 through the holes 29 and 30. The contour of the springs 31 is such as to normally bias the dust pans to closed position as shown at the left in Figure 4 and in order to open the dust pan as shown at the right in Figure 4 the spring tension of the spring must be overcome in an obvious manner. When it is desired to clean the sweeper, the two dust pans 19 and 20 are pivoted until the edges thereof are in contact with one another at which point due to the formation of the spring and the slots in conjunction with the axles 15 and 16 will hold the dust pans in open position so that the sweeper can be more easily cleaned and manifestly more thoroughly than any dust pans heretofore known.

The springs in addition to the foregoing relationship with the dust pans also have additional functions. A brush 34, formed in a usual manner on a twisted wire shaft 35 which thereby secures the bristles of the brush, has the ends of the shaft 35 secured in brush blocks 36 in each end thereof as shown in detail in Figure 5. The brush blocks have enlarged portions 37 for coaction with the wheels 17, 18 at each end of the sweeper as seen in Figure 2. The brush blocks have bores 38 centrally positioned and matching with holes 39 in the sides of the sweeper casing 10. The bale 11 has inwardly turned ends 40 inserted in the bores 38 through holes 39 thereby rotatably journalling the brush 34 in the casing 10. The wheels 17, 18 are in rolling contact with the brush blocks 36 and serve to drive the brush upon rotation of the wheels.

The springsfil in the assembled relation to the sweeper serve to maintain sufficient pressure between the wheels and the brush block for revolving the brush block.

In the construction shown in the drawing, the subassembly comprising-the axles 15, 16, the wheels 17, 18 and dust pans 19 and 2t) are secured or supported in the casing by means of louvres 41 on each end of the casing 10. The ends of the axles 15 and 16 are inserted into these louvres as shown in Figure 3. The louvres are so dimensioned that the axles and consequently the wheels supported thereon have a certain vertical range of play. The purpose of this is to permit vertical move ment of the wheels so as to adapt the height of the brush 34 to the type of surface being cleaned. Also, as shown in Figure 2 in dotted lines, the louvres 41 have a sufiicient length so that the sub-assembly may be slightly twisted when the brush and brush rollers are removed to permit removal of the sub-assembly by this horizontal sliding action and the insertion of the sub-assembly by a reverse movement. Manife'stly while the louvres are a very satisfactory method of providing for this arrangement, different structure or means could be utilized of supporting the entire working mechanism of the carpet sweeper in accordance with the same basic fundamental principle on the outside body or shell of the sweeper. Due to this novel arrangement internal side panels are not necessary nor is there a necessity for a separate chassis.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the present invention provides a very durable and efiieient sweeper which at the same time is very economical and of the utmost simplicity.

Minor changes in details or" construction will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A carpet sweeper comprising a single shell casing having a pair of aligned horizontally extending louvres in each side wall thereof, a brush having a shaft disposed within said casing, a bait: located outside of said casing having inturned ends extending into said casing, brush rollers upon said brush shaft rotatably mounted upon said inturned ends, a sub-assembly comprising axles, wheels, dust pans and spring means, said axles having the ends thereof loosely mounted in said louvres and said axles being arranged on opposite sides of said brush, said wheels being mounted upon said axles at each end thereof and being located within said casing, each of said louvres having a vertical dimension greater than the diameter of said axles and a horizontal dimension substantially greater than said vertical dimension, said dust pans being rotatably journaled on said axles and said spring means interconnecting and supported solely by said dust pans and extending above said brush shaft, said spring means urging said dust pans, axles and wheels towards one another so that said wheels coact with said brush rollers to rotate said brush and when said brush and brush rollersare removed from said casing said sub assembly may be removed as a unit.

2. A carpet sweeper as set forth in claim 1 wherein said dust pans have a bottom portion and side panels extending from said bottom portion, said side panels having arcuate slots therein within which said axles are mounted and said side panels having openings therein adjacent the inner ends of said arcuate slots wherein the ends of said spring means are inserted for biasing said dust pans to closed position with respect to said casing.

3. A carpet sweeper as set forth in claim 1 wherein said dust pans are individually rotatable from closed position through approximately to a position wherein the tension of said spring means is overcome so that said dust pans will remain open.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 576,837 Drew Feb. 9, 1897 643,778 Palmer Feb. 20, 1900 1,845,057 Owen Feb. 16, 1932 2,645,798 Thiele July 21, 1953 

